Angelina Jolie, who made a surprise visit to Sarajevo over the weekend, said shooting would begin in the autumn on the tale of a couple who meet on the eve of the war and the effect it has on their relationship.

"The film is a love story, not a political statement," Jolie said in a statement issued on Saturday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for whom she is a goodwill ambassador.

Jolie arrived in Sarajevo on Friday and on Saturday met members of Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency to discuss ways to help thousands of returning war refugees.

Jolie visited returnees in eastern Bosnia in April with her partner Brad Pitt and promised then to come back.

She said the movie's cast would be comprised of actors from the various ethnicities of the former Yugoslavia.

"I would like to involve as many local people as possible and learn as much as I can," Jolie said.